With the clocks poised to go back this coming weekend, there’s no turning the tide on the approaching colder temperatures, writes Coun John Cottee, chairman of the communities and place committee at Nottinghamshire County Council.

Winter maintenance is a high priority at Nottinghamshire County Council.

The county council's gritters are poised and ready for the winter to come

Planning for it is all year round, so everyone is in a strong position and ready for whatever the winter weather has in store.

The council is now ready to treat its gritting routes – A and B roads, heavily trafficked major roads and many main bus routes.

But whilst it’s well-equipped, the council is unable to respond to every request for roads and pavements to be gritted.

The 30-strong gritting fleet is on 24-hour standby from November 1 should road temperature forecasts be zero degrees or below, or if there is a danger of ice.

Each time the lorries go out, they cover an area equivalent to 100 large football pitches.

But as each gritting run can take more than three hours, residents should be aware that their roads may be gritted sometime after the circuit starts.

Each gritter has a CCTV system to help monitor road surface conditions as well as being tracked by GPS technology.

And roadside weather stations provide the teams with high quality weather forecasting information to help monitor road surface conditions.

The county’s salt barns are stocked with 10,000 tonnes of salt than official Government recommendations putting us in an excellent position should we face the worst winter conditions.

Last year felt like a particularly long, harsh winter and the gritting crews did a sterling job keeping the county moving in tough conditions.

Rest assured that whatever this winter brings, the council is geared up and ready.